The other day I was in church and the bell choir performed—you know, where there are about a dozen people standing in line, wearing black velvet gloves and each holding a different golden bell, and everybody rings their bell at just the right time, and the end result is beautiful music. Maybe I’ve been in and out of churches too much during my life, but I really enjoyed the music and I thought, “It’s not Christmas until you’ve heard a bell choir.” It really seemed to usher in the season for me.
Then Mary and I went to Winn Dixie and the Christmas trees were outside, and I said, “It’s not Christmas until you see the trees being sold outside the grocery stores.” (And at other locations, of course.)
And then I thought, well, what about the Night Blooming Jasmine? Now I know I’ve lived in Florida too long, because when I smell that, it conjures up memories of driving all around the neighborhoods at night with the kids, looking at Christmas lights and enjoying McDonald’s milkshakes (peppermint or eggnog!) So…”It’s not Christmas until you’ve smelled the Night Blooming Jasmine.”
Just curious, for anyone who would like to answer…what is it “not Christmas until” for you? What is the experience that tells you the season has begun? It could be something very general, or something very specific. Christmas is such a time of memories, that connects our present to our past on so many levels. I think it’s a time to help us remember who we are.
Oh, and by the way, also, “It’s not Christmas until Bryan Norcross shows all the really fabulously decorated houses on the six o’clock news!”
We have to make sure to go look at Christmas lights again this year!!! I love doing that…it’s a tradition!
It’s not Christmas until November 1st.
i think its not christmas until dec 1st for me. up until then it all seems like any other day. but for some reason on dec 1st something inside me makes me go all christmas crazy!! 🙂
its not christmas until you hear christmas songs abosoutly everywhere so there stuck in your head! which for me equals happiness 😀
It’s not Christmas until you’ve got “Let it Snow” in your head with absolutely no wish of getting it unstuck. That’s a Floridian Christmas wish! It’s not Christmas until you smell pine that isn’t in an air freshener. It’s not Christmas until there’s eggnog! ^_^
(Oh, and I keep friending you and it keeps not working! That’s why I have to do another huge comment binge and then hope you show up on my friends list from now on!)
I’m thinking that maybe someday I’ll put together a little “coffee table” Christmas book called “It’s Not Christmas Until…” which would be all glossy pages and beautiful photos to get you in the mood for Christmas. If I do that, I’d like to quote you on the eggnog. It’s classic! And I think a nice big glass of “that seasonal favorite…eggnog!” would make a very beautiful photograph, don’t you?
As for the “friending” thing, I’m more lost than you are! Mary might know, and now that she’s finished her on-line courses, she is just about to re-emerge from the nighmarish world of Toomuchschool and back into the real world. You might ask her, I wouldn’t be surpsired if she’ll know what to do!